Around College Football: Bob Stoops to Florida gets buzz, and Dilly Bar Dan
1. Oklahoma coach Mike Stoops briefly the betting favorite to take the Florida job.
Sometime Thursday, Bovada pulled its gambling odds on the next Gators football coach, probably to limit its exposure on what’s essentially a tricky prop bet.
Stoops has been pretty dismissive of the Florida job, and the two parties have had a couple of opportunities to connect before now with no movement. Even optimistically, Stoops is a question mark. But he did win a national championship in 2000 and he’s 3-0 against Alabama, including in last year’s Sugar Bowl.
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy opened as the favorite, and reportedly has a so-so relationship with the administration, but the Cowboys are 5-5 this year. Gundy is an offensive mind with big-time experience, but I’m not sure how well he’d sell to Gators fans.
Colorado State coach Jim McElwain is an offensive mind and a descendant of Nick Saban. He’s 9-1 this season with the Rams after a major turnaround, but is only in his third season as a head coach and also requires a huge contract buyout to steal away.
It’s anyone’s guess who will end up at Florida, as Jeremy Foley has a reputation as a bit of a wild card. But Foley said he wants a new coach in place by Christmas, so you can bet the next few weeks will be a flurry of activity.
2. Cold doesn’t phase Minnesotans.
Check out this bad-apple phone technician Dan Lehman enjoying a Dilly Bar in 20-degree weather (and snow) during Saturday’s Ohio State-Minnesota game.
Game time temperature at Ohio State-Minnesota was 15 degrees. Sounds like a good time for an ice cream bar. pic.twitter.com/z11fY02CoV
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 15, 2014
We love this DQ determination! “@cjzero: Minnesota Coach Eats Dilly Bar In Snowstorm https://t.co/KroTuix7IV”
— Dairy Queen (@DairyQueen) November 15, 2014
For everyone asking, Minnesota has a premium seating area with a "DQ Club Room" that has Dilly Bars and Buster Bars at concessions
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) November 15, 2014
The savage “Dilly Bar Dan” had this to say for himself (according to KMSP-TV in the Twin Cities):
“Ever since we moved into TCF Bank stadium, Dairy Queen has given the press area upstairs treats at halftime, and [my boss] grabs a treat on the way down, whatever we want, Dilly Bars or Buster Bars, and that game I just happened to ask him to bring me down a Dilly. That’s every game, regardless of weather.”
“It’s never too cold for a Dilly Bar,” he told ESPN. “That’s just one of those things I’ll enjoy whenever they give it to me.”
3. Kansas WR Nigel King made what may be the catch of the year in college football.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Mr. King gets invited to the ESPYs.
Catch of week/month/year? RT @max_olson: Insanity in Kansas https://t.co/BrjKwbqShH
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) November 15, 2014
4. Speaking of Minnesota, which lost to Ohio State by a respectable margin, check out the ball boy’s reaction to a missed FG.
He could’ve used a Dilly Bar himself to cheer up.
"WHY GOD, WHY!!!!!!!!!!!" – This guy http://t.co/E2xtxbfQ5M Vine: https://t.co/leFEaWo087
— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) November 15, 2014
5. Texas Tech accuses former defensive coordinator of sharing signals with opponents.
Kliff Kingsbury abruptly fired Matt Wallerstedt earlier this season, with many speculating that some sort of substance abuse was the cause.
Now reports have emerged that Wallerstedt was revealing the team’s signals to other teams.
The Red Raiders still are terrible, sliding to 3-7 this year, while Wallerstedt now has a job at Louisiana-Lafayette. Wallerstedt fired back almost immediately, denying the charges.
We may never know what happened, because now lawyers are involved. But it’s ugly in Lubbock, Texas, either way.
6. ACC commissioner calls for eight-team playoff.
That escalated quickly. While it would be easy to poke at the ACC here and point out how much better the SEC is (North Carolina’s 45-20 win against Duke on Thursday made the SEC East look good next to the Coastal Division), John Swofford has a point.
If the season ended today, deserving programs like TCU, Ohio State and Baylor would be left out of the playoff field.
“I don’t think all the controversy’s going to go away,” Swofford told the Durham Herald-Sun. “You have four teams that get a chance to play for the national championship, which is twice as many as before, but whoever’s fifth or sixth is not going to be happy. There will be some conferences that won’t have a team in the playoff.”
7. Evidence has emerged that college football villain Jameis Winston may not have signed autographs for money.
ESPN’s Darren Rovell didn’t quite stick his foot in his mouth, but this report seriously questions the authenticity of the autographs he allegedly signed for money.
While Todd Gurley admitted to accepting more than $3,000 for autographs, earning a four-game suspension from Georgia, Winston denied ever accepting money and is free to continue playing.
Winston, who has a single one-game suspension to his credit despite a number of legal run-ins, isn’t believable, but dig into this story and the evidence against him in this particular case — which only breaks the NCAA rules, not the law — is dubious at best.
8. Michigan is closer to firing Brady Hoke.
The school’s regents finally approved Jim Hackett as interim athletic director, even though he’s been acting in that capacity for a few weeks now.
Considering the speed at which the school is operating, a) it doesn’t appear that the Wolverines will hire a new athletic director before the end of the season, and b) it’s quite possible Hackett is the man that will fire Hoke.